


Be the Hero That Comes Down From Olympus

by rebelrsr



Series: SuperCat Week 2019 [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 00:40:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20826476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelrsr/pseuds/rebelrsr
Summary: A new superhero arrives in National City. Of course, Cat Grant needs to get the exclusive - and discovers more than she or Supergirl intended.





	Be the Hero That Comes Down From Olympus

“Did you tell me no?” Cat came out of her chair in one smooth movement. “No one, especially an employee, tells me no.” Satisfaction filled her when Olsen gave ground, backing away from her desk, from Cat as she stalked around her desk and closed on him. “I want that reporter in this office yesterday.”

A reporter who’d managed to get a quote from National City’s new superhero on the very day she’d appeared and hauled a plane around the skyline.

“Ms. Grant, Kara’s not…”

Cat had reached her limit of stupid. “You’re fired.” She’d make damned sure HR got the exorbitant recruitment bonus back. Olsen was a hell of a photographer, but he’d crossed too many lines today. Reaching for her phone, she stabbed a single button on her phone to summon Security. “Security will escort you from the building. Your things will be mailed to your address on file with HR within forty-eight hours,” Cat said by rote.

Then, tired of depending on underqualified minions to get things done, Cat called the Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune. Herself.

“Carr!” The brusque voice on the phone hadn’t changed in all the years she’d known Snapper.

Cat turned away from the rest of the drama unfolding in her office as Security dragged a disbelieving Olsen out. “I want Kara Danvers.”

He had the audacity to laugh. “I figured as much. She’s on her way. If the kid doesn’t get lost or stop to eat her fifth lunch, she’ll be there in the next fifteen.” Then, in defiance of his reputation, Snapper’s voice softened. “Don’t go at her, Cat. Ponytail’s a good kid, but she’s nowhere near your league. If you scare her off, you’ll have my resignation on your desk so fast you won’t know what hit you.”

It was enough to make Cat pause. “She’s that good?”

“If she pays attention and learns to spell.” He exhaled, and Cat imagined the cloud of cigar smoke filling his office in defiance of CatCo Worldwide’s “No Smoking” policy. “Ponytail’s got a backbone, too, if you push the right buttons.”

“And yet you threatened to quit if I hurt her feelings.” Cat leaned back in her chair and watched the employee elevator intently, waiting for the cub reporter who’d made such an impression on the only other CatCo employee with a termination rate anywhere close to her own.

* * *

“No! Alex, listen!” Kara snapped. “I don’t care what you think. I don’t work for the DEO. I don’t answer to you or to Hank or even to Kal.” Frustration simmered; a pot ready to boil over into true anger. She hadn’t forgotten (or had time to forgive) Alex’s brutal dress-down after Kara had used her powers to save her sister’s plane.

Alex was still lecturing as Kara heard a car approaching her chosen location. Griffith Observatory was dark and abandoned this late on a weekday. Kara needed the privacy, and the iconic architecture was reminiscent of Argo City’s towering spires. “…can’t do this, Kara! Cat Grant owns the largest media empire in the world! Do you really think she’s going to…?”

“I know who and what Cat Grant is. More than you!” Kara interrupted without an iota of guilt. “I work for her, remember? I agreed to this interview.” The screen cracked as she stabbed the End Call button. Headlights cut through the hazy gloom, and Kara shoved the ruined phone into the pocket of her pants.

Rather than piggyback off Kal’s Supersuit, Kara wore the formal all-black uniform of the House of El. She drifted down out of the sky, letting her boots hit the pavement with enough force to rattle the hood of Cat’s chauffeured limousine.

Kara threw back her shoulders and raised her chin as the back door to the car popped open and a Manolo Blahnik-clad foot appeared. Disdain lined Cat Grant’s face as she exited the car. “I offered to rent out the entire top floor of the National City Club. We could have sat and dined with more Michelin stars than you could count.”

Quoting Alex, Kara responded. “Clubs have staff. Staff have phones that can record conversations and take pictures. Did you want to be scooped by The Enquirer?” The last was all Kara. Well, Kara with a dash of Snapper Carr.

She wasn’t expecting Cat to smile approvingly. Or for her to stride confidently across the dark parking lot to stand so close that Kara could smell the Scotch on Cat’s breath. “Why did you save that plane?”

“What?” It wasn’t on the list of questions Cat had given to her employee Kara Danvers. Questions that “Supergirl”, as Cat called the superhero Kara had pretended to interview, had combed through before approving a select few.

Cat’s gaze sharpened. Kara fought the urge to flinch. “You’re not a child. I assume you didn’t wake up three days ago to find you could fly and carry an airplane on your shoulders. Why come out of hiding now?”

Channeling the arrogance and presence Kara remembered her mother using when she addressed the Council, Kara raised an eyebrow. “You believe I’ve been hiding?”

“Of course, you have. Superheroes are worse than politicians and Hollywood starlets when it comes to needing an adoring fanbase.”

Kara nearly giggled, hanging on to her composure by a thread. Cat had certainly nailed Kal and The Bat with her comment. “I didn’t save the plane so that you and National City would stand in line for autographs.”

  
A single finger tapped against Cat’s lips. “Who are you? What powers do you have? What planet are you from?”

These were at least on the “approved” list. Kara relaxed a little. “My name is Kara Zor-El.” She pronounced them in Kryptonese, the familiar cadence and clipped sounds of her native language enough to disguise the name she shared with Kara Danvers.

* * *

Cat scribbled a few words on her notepad. The one Kara Zor-El had agreed she could bring. The camera and microphone cleverly disguised as a necklace… Cat hadn’t climbed to the top of the journalistic heap by playing by the rules. “Zor-El. Like Kal-El? You’re related to Superman?”

“I…yes.” The girl. Woman. The alien appeared flustered. Her hands tugged at her suit. Rose hesitantly toward her face before fiddling with her hair. “He’s my cousin.”

Cousin. Superman had always maintained he was the last Kryptonian.

“Kal-El.” The uneasy movements stopped, and Kara Zor-El grew statue still. Cat had seen the same thousand-yard stare in children and women in war torn Afghanistan. People who had suffered unimaginable loss, and that was borne out by Kara Zor-El’s story. “Kal’s shuttle left Krypton only a few minutes before mine.”

Cat’s pen scratched across paper with her observations. Grief dug lines in Kara’s face. Darkened already shadowed eyes. The smooth, musical voice faltered, and the parking lot lights sparkled against the tears sliding down Kara’s cheeks.

Cat didn’t push. She didn’t question. Right now, Kara spoke without filter. Her pain was real and raw.

“I miss it. Every day.” Kara fell silent, and Cat heard the normal night sounds again. Kara’s story had surrounded her. A shaking hand rose as Kara wiped at her tears; her head bowed for a long minute. “I’m sorry. You didn’t come here for the sad tale of an alien refugee.” Anger and bitterness lashed at Cat now. “Superheroes don’t cry. They save planes and pose for the camera, as I did for Kara Danvers.”

Kara Danvers. Kara Zor-El. The inflection was different yet similar. The sheer impossibility teased Cat.

“Superheroes are whatever they need to be.” Cat met Kara’s eyes, trying to pair this powerful and tragic alien as the ray of Millennial sunshine who’d bounced into her office that morning. “Superman and the Bat cloak themselves in mystery and stoic masculinity. Why do you need to be the same? Why can’t you be the hero that comes down from Olympus and speaks to normal humans?”

“Is that how you’ll spin my story?” Now that Kara wasn’t telling her story, her accent disappeared. It was so very easy to see the cub reporter now; the glasses and Kara Danver’s eponymous ponytail an inadequate disguise.

Stowing her notebook in her purse, Cat crossed her arms. Knowledge was power; sometimes, power she couldn’t use the way others assumed. Not to hurt or expose the girl in front of her. “Spin? You aren’t Andrew Weiner trying to cover up some frightfully inadequate dick pics.”

If Cat hadn’t already sussed out Kara’s secret identity, her bright grin at Cat’s comment would have revealed it.

“I’ll send the rough draft to you for approval through Kara Danvers. She’ll be our go-between for the time being.” Cat turned and walked back to the car. She was on her phone the minute it cleared the parking lot.

“Snapper, I want Kara Danvers permanently assigned to the new Supergirl desk.” Steamrolling over any possible objection, she rapped out her expectations. “Get it up and running before you go to print tomorrow. She gets space above the fold any time Supergirl saves the day.” Cat finished the call with a sharp, “She’s your protégé until you’ve smoothed her bleeding-heart tendencies.”

There would be no spin in Cat’s Supergirl exclusive. No agenda other than introducing Kara Zor-El and her origin. She fully expected that Kara would always have an agenda in every Supergirl column.

Modern media didn’t only report the news. Sometimes, they shaped it. 


End file.
